Homemade Spicy Ramen with Tofu

Okay, I’m kidding – but I really almost feel like I could just leave it at that “Homemade Ramen is Lyfe” statement and there would be nothing more that would need to happen here except you grabbing a big bowl, piling it high with slippery ramen noodles, pouring that spicy miso broth over the top, adding a scoop of seared tofu or a soft boiled egg, drizzling everything with sesame or garlic oil, tossing in a handful of scallions, and going to town with your chopsticks to the delight of your little ramen-loving heart.

Amiright?

Since there are quite a few things to note about today’s spicy ramen recipe, let’s just dive in.

SPICY Ramen Note #1:

This is not necessarily a super authentic spicy ramen recipe. Because, like, I don’t really know my way around authentic ramen.

This is more like one of those times when you go to an adorable Japanese bistro and have LIFE-CHANGINGLY-DELICIOUS spicy house-made ramen, so you go find an authentic-looking recipe online, and then just make a less-authentic version of it using whatever you can get your hands on without running around to 12 different grocery stores. Yes. That is our ZONE today.

We are being tutored by the greatness of Lady and Pups and we are making the ramen situation work for the average person with an average-ly stocked kitchen. Annnnd ordering a few things on Amazon will help us out big time. God bless Amazon.

Spicy Ramen Note #2:

Speaking of Amazon.

Here are the products I recommend ordering for this recipe, in order of importance.

There is a good chance you can find miso paste at the right grocery store, and the tofu press is sort of just an extra fun thing.

But the ramen noodles.

WHOA BABY those ramen noodles are yummy. They are dry, like the regular pasta that we buy all the time, but they are at least five steps up on the food scale from the small 20-cent packages of ramen that you might otherwise be tempted to use (I only say it because I’ve been there).

SPICY Ramen Note #3:

It’s actually kind of hard to make a soft boiled egg.

But it’s worth trying, and it’s still worth serving an egg with your ramen even if it looks like someone clawed it apart in a moment of uncontrolled hunger.

That is all.

SPICY Ramen Note #4:

If you are overwhelmed by the idea of this spicy ramen but kind of intrigued to try something similar-but-easier, I have just the thing for you and it’s called QUICK HOMEMADE RAMEN.

Now you have no excuses. None.

Grab chopsticks or a fork, or really, just a straight up shovel, and get this in your mouth stat.

SPICY MISO PASTE: Pulse all miso paste ingredients together in a food processor until a smooth, thick paste forms. You will use about half of it for this recipe and the other half can be frozen or refrigerated for a few days.

TOFU: Press as much moisture as you can out of the tofu using paper towels or a tofu press. Cut into cubes. In a large pot, heat the oil on medium high heat and start frying the tofu. Once the tofu has browned, add ¼ cup of the spicy miso paste and cook for another minute or two to get a nice golden color. Remove from pan and set aside.

BROTH: (SEE NOTES) To the same pan, add the chopped shiitake and a a tablespoon or so of miso paste and stir fry until golden brown. Add the stock and soy milk and bring to a simmer. Place ½ cup spicy miso paste on top of a very fine sieve. Lower the sieve half-way into the simmering soup and use a spoon to slowly dissolve the paste into the soup. Discard the “solids” remaining in the sieve and let the soup simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning - add salt or a little soy sauce until it tastes like a spicy ramen broth.

EGGS and RAMEN: Cook the ramen noodles according to package instructions and drain well. While the ramen is cooking, bring a small pot of water to boil. When it reaches boiling, add 4 eggs and reduce heat to the lowest possible setting. Cook for exactly 7 minutes, remove eggs from water, run under cold water, and let them set for a few minutes. Peel shells off carefully. Yolks will be soft.

SERVING: Divide the noodles into four large bowl and ladle the soup on top (you may have a bit more than needed). For each serving, top with the tofu, 1 soft-boiled egg (cut in half), scallions, and sesame oil.

Notes

For the mushrooms, the original recipe said to use dried but they can be hard to find which is why I wrote the recipe to use fresh mushrooms. As written, the recipe will yield a slightly thicker broth because it includes a little bit of the paste stir fried with the fresh mushrooms. **But if you can find dried, then just skip the stir fry step and go straight to simmering the dried mushrooms, broth, and soy milk together. This gives you a much lighter, thinner broth that is very slurpable and delicious.

Along the same lines, for the spicy miso paste in step three - if you dump the whole thing directly into the soup, it will make the soup very thick. Not good.

You cannot use just white miso for this recipe (too sweet) but you could use just red miso. We made a version that used just red miso and it worked out okay.

To make this vegetarian and/or vegan, omit the eggs and/or swap chicken stock for vegetable stock.

3.5.3208

Note: this post contains affiliate links for the tofu and ramen related products.

108 Comments (page 1)

This looks delectable per usual. One point on the egg…an easier method maybe to poach it easy. That way you get the texture and yumminess (that’s a technical word btw) of a soft boiled egg with less fuss. Ooh…and another point…fresh eggs are best for poaching, older eggs are best for boiling in the shell. Can’t wait to try this!

Okay….confession…never had Ramen in my life…but by the looks of it, it is riiiiight down my alley so I am feeling a ‘first’ comin’ on! 🙂
And favorite quote of the day: looks like someone clawed it apart in a moment of uncontrolled hunger. <3 <3

OMG this looks amazing! The egg looks delicious. This is crazy, but I have never had Ramen, not even the 20 cent packets when I was in college. I think your recipe is a good way to jump into the ramen world!

My husband and I FINALLY made it to an incredible ramen house in Nashville where we live. I died and went to noodle bowl heaven. The pork broth was so incredible that I have made it my mission to make my own at home. Great recipe!!!!

Seriously. This broth will be a step down from any ramen place – their broths are SO SO GOOD. I think traditionally ramen broth has dashi, which I just omitted altogether since I didn’t want to buy any one-time-use ingredients for this… but still, this is pretty good for a homemade version if you ask me. 😉

Looks so good! Hmmm, I love ramen but this looks too involved for me. I’m too much of a health snob to eat packaged ramen though, although tempting – would rather save my fat for favorite treats. Thanks for helping me get hungry though! ???? Bita

Ramen is one of my desert island foods (I almost typed “dessert island”, which would probably be more fun ????), so I definitely want to try this version. I actually found the most amazing store bought ramen ever with fresh noodles and some sort of delicious flavour paste so now I don’t know how anything I make from scratch will measure up, but I’m not ready to give up on homemade just yet!

This looks beyond amazing! I tend to spend all of my money on food, specifically soup (I can eat it all day, every day, and any time of the year). I haven’t heard of some of your ingredients but would love to try this recipe for sure!

i really like frozen sun ramen noodles! they come in a clear plastic clamshell, and i find them all the time in japanese/chinese stores (in california). they have a really nice chew. and apparently that company makes the noodles for major ramen places (including the momofuku empire!).

Yaasssss! This looks amazing. I’ve never made my own ramen in fear that it would just disappoint, but you’ve made it seem easy and I gotta try! Where I live there’s a place that does coconut green curry ramen and it’s so heavenly!!

I make my soft boiled eggs just like you except I leave my water boiling and do 6-7 minutes. They always turn out perfectly. I think it’s easier than poaching, but I will poach my eggs for eggs benedict. 🙂

Ramen’s always been one of those things that I can find easily where I live, so I’ve never made it from home. But this looks delicious and easy, and since we’re trying to save money around here I might give it a whirl.

This looks fantastic! I’m a little puzzled by the amounts of the spicy miso paste though – since you only use half in this recipe, can’t one just make half in the 1st place? Is the benefit just having miso paste ready to go for the second round? Or some other secret?

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